Career Journey with Teri Fahrendorf

You know her as the founder and first president of Pink Boots Society, but do you know the Who, What, Where, Why, When and How of the Pink Boots genesis story?

Besides Pink Boots Society, do you know how else she is connected with the beer industry? That she was the first woman in her two homebrew clubs? That she was the 5 th homebrewer to attend the Siebel Institute to “turn pro” and that she was Siebel’s first woman class president? Did you know she was the third USA woman craft beer brewmaster, and the first who wasn’t an owner, and therefore had to “get hired by a man?”

Did you know she got her first brewmaster job because of two resumes? (She was never an assistant or a staff brewer.) Did you know she got her second brewmaster job because of a party she threw? Did you know she got her third, and longest-running brewmaster job because of a t-shirt? Did you know she was in the hospital for a month because of an accident at her first Brewmaster job, and the owners had no insurance and wouldn’t pay her hospital bill? And that injury made her a beer industry “safety poster child?”

Did you know she decided to switch to the “dark side” (brewery supply) because her husband nominated her for a job that he interviewed for, during his interview? Did you know she got her brewery supply job because of a camping trip? Did you know she primped for her supply-side R&D brewmaster job interview and wore a suit, and nobody showed up? Did you know that over her 34-year career she hired and /or trained 55 brewers, and she has the list of names to prove it? Did you know that she was recruited for her first professional-level beer judging gig? Or that she was recruited to be a conference speaker? Do you know she earned five “Lifetime Achievement” awards between 2014 and 2026, or what those are?

These and possibly other questions will be answered during Teri Fahrendorf’s Zoom hour with Pink Boots Society’s “ask me anything” seminar called “The Long Pour.” Teri says, “I don’t know how we’ll cover my 34-year craft beer career in 60 minutes, but we’ll sure try!”